A futile fight against entropy or 'Every man should have a hobby'? Either way it is a blog on tabletop wargames, board games and megagames

Down and dirty Sewer fighting.

Over the years I’ve been buying up the Ainsty produced sewer section, I’m pretty sure I’ve bought them off all three of the companies different owners. A while back I got round to drafting some rule amendments specifically for their use. Evan had come round for game night so we got the blocks out came up with a few different layouts and ran through a couple of different scenarios.

The first one was a Stalingrad affair with plenty of SMGs and each side using lanterns (with gave a pool of light) or torches/ flashlights (a cone of beam) to light their way. The second game was slightly more fantastical as it was a Berlin 45 set up. It was chosen so I could use a handful of my IR equipped figure to test out those rule modifications too.

Sorting out the bits and pieces: I had made sure I had kept a note of the paints I had used to ensure continuity.

Layout one. Each side approached the other from a ladder entrance.

Soviets advance forwards.

The Germans move up too.

The Soviets (me) come off worst in the ensuing exchange of fire.

As the Germans had torches they could turn them off and just shoot into the areas illuminated by the lanterns of the Soviets. A wise tactic which completely halted the Soviets advance.

At this point we quickly reset the layout and moved forward a few years to Berlin 1945.

Layout two. This time I took the Germans and Evan the Soviets.

This time the Soviets had flashlights of their own as well as heavy steel plate body armour.

The Germans had come prepared with state of the art weaponry.

The Germans rushed forward and with the IR sights slotted the Soviets as they appeared.

The second game was rather one sides so only ran for a couple of turns. To be fair as games the 2 scenarios were rather unbalanced though that wasn’t the point of them. Given that they were to test some rule modifications they worked well, though the rules seems to favour which ever side has the technological edge. I did balance that by having the ‘home’ or defending side be the only force who could move quickly through the tunnels, representing local knowledge so it did go some way to balance this.

I never really intended to sewers to be a game within themselves rather than an adjunct to an above ground game, literally adding an extra level to fight across. Future candidates for this will be Stalingrad and Berlin as well as Warsaw. If you haven’ t seen Kanal http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050585/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 you are really missing out on a classic. Also I’m pretty sure I’ll work in some modern counter- terrorist action int to. Pulp games would be option too. I’ll get round to working out some scenarios and getting them played over the summer- given the action will be on two tables I’m pretty sure they’ll be good for multiplayer games too.

Cheers,

Pete.

PS- apologies for the extended gap between this post and the last. A period of ill health has meant I directed what energy I had into my studies.

Great idea for a game, but … ugh. I can’t think of a more horrible place to fight – no cover, dark, confined, ugh. If you were so inclined you could use for zombie fighting games – there is an epic chapter in the World War Z book about fighting zeds in the sewers of Paris.
Hope you’re on the mend.
Cheers,
MP